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8 Facts We Know About Jessica Jones Season 2 (And 7 Rumors We Hope Are True)

Jessica Jones is one of those rare gems of a television show that’s beloved by critics and fans alike. Based on the Marvel comic, the titular character Jessica Jones is a no-nonsense private investigator with secret powers and a drinking problem. She chooses to stay private in all aspects of her life, and has even distanced herself from her best friend, Trish. At least this was the case until she catches wind that her former abuser, Kilgrave, is back in town. The way that the show handled assault and PTSD, as well giving fans the first female Marvel superhero in a TV series, is one of many reasons why people rave about this show.

It has been two years since season one of Jessica Jones dropped on Netflix, and fans were beginning to get impatient about the continuation of Jessica’s story. In case you haven’t been following all the news out there, we here at CBR have rounded up 8 things that we know for sure about Jessica Jones season 2, along with 7 rumors that we hope actually come true. No shots of whisky are necessary to read this, but we will warn you that this list contains spoilers.

15 FACT: WOMEN DIRECTED ALL 13 EPISODES

Showrunner Melissa Rosenberg has confirmed that all of Jessica Jones’ season 2 directors are women. That’s 13 episodes total directed by women in season 2. The implications of this is huge for women since the percentage of television shows helmed by female directors is depressingly low.

The social context of this news is also important to consider. There is a growing movement for more diversity in directing, yet when people from minority groups succeed in directing, they are not recognized in the industry. Recently, the Golden Globes snubbed Patty Jenkins for directing Wonder Woman, Greta Gerwig for directing Lady Bird, and Jordan Peele for directing Get Out, all who whom directed critically acclaimed, game-changing films. The opportunity that Jessica Jones is giving for women to better succeed in the industry is desperately needed.

14 RUMOR: NUKE RETURNS

Will Simpson (Wil Traval) is a cop turned crazed superpowered killer. Simpson becomes so obsessed with killing Kilgrave that he rejoins IGH, a secret military group that gives their soldiers pills for increased strength. It took some fans until the end of the first season, where Will descends into pill popping madness, to realize that Will Simpson was a version of Marvel’s Nuke.

In the comics, Frank Simpson turns into Nuke, a villain with super strength and with an American flag tattooed on his face. In the show, we last saw Simpson being taken away by the IGH, so this probably isn’t the last we’ll see of him. According to the actor’s Twitter, he happened to be in New York City to “see old friends” while Jessica Jones season 2 was shooting. Coincidence? We’re hoping we see a fully realized Nuke with a full-on American flag face tattoo.

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13 FACT: KRYSTEN RITTER PUSHED HERSELF

Krysten Ritter does a lot of her Jessica Jones fight sequences herself and really got into the physicality of the starring role with circuit training and boxing. When someone chooses to do stunts, which Ritter hadn’t done before Jessica Jones, the actor goes into training knowing that she might get injured.

It was reported that in July, Ritter was hit by an uppercut that accidentally connected with her jaw. This resulted in her biting through her tongue and a lot of blood, from which she passed out. Taking a shot to the jaw is jarring enough, but if there’s full force behind it, it can take a while to recover from. Amazingly, Ritter was back at work soon after the punch in the face and was in good spirits, enough to poke fun at herself about it in interviews.

12 RUMOR: INGRID IS TYPHOID MARY

One of the new characters in season 2 is Ingrid: a bisexual “streetwise” woman with a nursing background, dark hair, and an edge. Leah Gibson from the Twilight series was cast to play her, and since season 2 could have multiple villains, various outlets have started hypothesizing what villain Gibson could be playing. One name that’s been brought up a couple of times is Typhoid Mary.

In the Marvel comics, Mary is a mutant with psionic powers, including telekinesis and pyrokinesis (she can set stuff on fire with her mind). She’s got dissociative identity disorder, and as a result, she has three distinct personalities, two of which are deadly. Typhoid Mary’s definitely got the edge, and it would be a fun character to see onscreen as she is also the ex-lover of Matt Murdock.

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11 FACT: DAVID TENNANT IS BACK AS KILGRAVE

In August 2017, it was confirmed that David Tennant would reprise his role as Kilgrave in Jessica Jones season 2. First look photos from the set released this week show David Tennant in Kilgrave’s signature suit and tie leaning menacingly close into Jessica. The extent of Tennant’s involvement is unknown, but we can assume that his scenes will take place in flashbacks or hallucinations since Jessica killed Kilgrave at the end of the first season.

It would make sense that Jessica would continue to see Kilgrave long after he’s gone. Even though his physical presence is gone -- Jessica snapped his neck, so it’s doubtful he’ll come back to life -- he still lives on in her head. The experience of being severely abused will take anyone a while to get over, and we will hopefully see Jessica’s progression towards recovery.

10 RUMOR: J.R. RAMIREZ WAS CAST AS LOVE INTEREST

Another addition to the season 2 character roster was Oscar, the new superintendent of Jessica’s apartment building. J.R. Ramirez was cast to play this single father whose young son is drawn to Jessica. Though Oscar may try to steer clear of her, it could be that this is the set-up for a love interest.

J.R. Ramirez is the right age (mid-30s) to be a love interest for Jessica. Let’s be clear: Jessica don’t need no man. But if she’s going to be with anyone, it should be with someone who “exudes warmth, edge and intelligence,” which is how Rosenberg describes J.R.’s presence on the show. Fans would like to see Jessica happy, so if this character has the ability to add to her happiness, then we’re all for it.

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9 FACT: JESSICA’S POWERS ARE PUBLIC KNOWLEDGE

In superhero stories, there’s a lot to be explored in the contrast between the superhero and their alter ego personality. However, Jessica Jones isn’t this kind of superhero. In the show, she doesn’t have a secret identity or a suit (though her outfit is a great Halloween costume). Jessica has been off the superhero radar until now.

According to the released Netflix synopsis of Jessica Jones season 2, Jessica is “now known throughout the city as a super-powered killer.” In the first season, the private detective was very private indeed. She isolated herself on purpose so as not to endanger anyone with Kilgrave’s presence. However, with Jessica’s involvement with fighting Kilgrave, and then later joining the Defenders, it looks like that private life is out the window.

8 RUMOR: JESSICA’S ORIGIN STORY WILL BE REVEALED

Jessica Jones and Will Simpson have a connection outside of Trish Walker: they’ve both had dealings with IGH. Now, IGH doesn’t actually stand for anything: nothing can be found out about them other than they’re the ones in charge of the Super Soldier pill program. The other time we’ve seen that name is on the medical bills from when young Jessica was in a car accident that killed her family.

IGH paid for her medical bills, including procedures and medication. Since they are not a charity, we have to assume that they are involved in how Jessica got her powers. In the Alias comic, her powers are directly connected to the car accident, so it could be that we will see more details of this as Jessica continues to investigate IGH.

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7 FACT: MORE DEVELOPMENT OF SIDE CHARACTERS

Jessica Jones is a character driven show. The power of its appeal rests a lot in exploring Jessica’s mind and heart, but this is now branching out to more development of side characters. In a recent interview, showrunner Melissa Rosenberg has stated that Hogarth, Trish, and Malcolm will be given “great moments to shine this season.”

Jeri Hogarth, played by Carrie-Anne Moss, is a recurring figure in Marvel Netflix. We last saw her in The Defenders asking Foggy to keep an eye on Jessica. This is an interesting relationship for the show to explore. We also last saw Trish Walker (Rachael Taylor) and Malcolm Ducasse (Eka Darville) in The Defenders, with Trish and Karen Page bonding and Malcolm painting Jessica’s apartment. Trish and Malcolm are likable characters, and we can’t wait to see what their shining moments will be!

6 RUMOR: TRISH WILL BECOME HELLCAT

Those who have read the comics know that Trish Walker has to become Hellcat. In the comics, Patricia “Patsy” Walker has psionic powers. She can sense mystical powers and create force fields to combat them. Additionally, Hellcat is an accomplished martial artist with ties to the Defenders and the Avengers.

Our Trish is about halfway there. We’ve seen the intensity of her martial arts training, and she was able to help Jessica beat Simpson (with the help of a red pill). Trish could continue her training, and her Hellcat powers could be developed. Set photos from season 2 show Trish saving Malcolm and fighting a mugger. Her outfit, though not a costume, is yellow and dark blue: Hellcat’s signature colors. Fans are getting excited that Hellcat is becoming more of a possibility.

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5 FACT: MORE DETAILS OF JESSICA’S DEMONS BEFORE KILGRAVE

Jessica is a complicated character, and she clearly had problems before she even met Kilgrave. In season one, we got hints of these demons, but showrunner Melissa Rosenberg has plans to get flesh these out a little more. While Rosenberg was hesitant to confirm that the focus of the second season would be on Jessica’s past, she did reveal some themes for season 2.

In a recent interview, Rosenberg discussed the themes of season 2 and how the focus of Jessica’s story is going to be more emotional. Rosenberg wants to go deeper in tackling Jessica’s trauma and stated “it was really just about digging deeper into this chaos and peeling back those layers, just going to the core of her being. That was our objective.”

4 RUMOR: PUNISHER CROSSOVER

Frank Castle, the Punisher, originally appeared in Daredevil’s second season, and the buzz around his character got him a spin-off show. Punisher dropped on Netflix in November 2017, and just this week, Netflix announced that there would be a second season. Looks like we’ll be seeing more Punisher and a lot more guns.

Fans were hoping to see Defenders characters in Punisher, but there weren’t any, including Jessica Jones. With the line-up of the Marvel Netflix series, we’re hoping that there’s a scene with Punisher in the second season of Jessica Jones even if it’s a post-credits blip. We know that New York City is a big city, but she’s got to run into him at some point, right? Imagine the conversations about past trauma they could have!

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3 FACT: LESS RELIANCE ON ALIAS COMICS

The Alias comic book series, created by Brian Michael Bendis and Michael Gaydos, provided showrunner Melissa Rosenberg a framework to work with in Jessica Jones’ first season. However, the second season will move away from the mythology of Alias, which Rosenberg discussed at her panel during the Television Critics Association press tour.

The reason why is because the Alias storyline shifted into crossovers since it was leading up to "Civil War", which the Netflix show isn’t able to do. What the MCU is doing compared to what Marvel Comics is doing is still quite different. Rosenberg has said that she will borrow as much as she can from the Alias comics because it’s great source material. However, since the second season is focusing more on Jessica’s backstory, there will be less taken from Alias.

2 RUMOR: JANET MCTEER IS JESSICA’S MOM

Janet McTeer was cast around the same time as J.R. Ramirez and Leah Gibson, yet to this day, the name and details of her character are undisclosed. All that’s been said about her character is that she “will have an enormous impact on Jessica’s life.” Multiple outlets have speculated that the signs are pointing to mom.

The car accident that Jessica was in defines her young life -- her life was not the same since. If she finds out that her mother did in fact survive, and had a role in withholding the truth from her, this could further damage an already mentally vulnerable Jessica. Jessica has had drama with her adoptive mother Dorothy Walker, but we’re guessing this parental drama would be next level.

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1 FACT: NO INFINITY WAR CROSSOVER

It’s no secret that MCU fans love crossovers. We watch through the entire credits of every Marvel movie with hopes that a crossover hint will be revealed in a post-credits scene. With the Infinity War movies ramping up fan excitement -- we made very high pitched noises during the trailer -- fans started to speculate if we will see the MCU heroes all together at some point.

In Infinity War, we know that New York is once again going to be under attack, so the question has to be asked (as it was in a recent interview) whether our heroes on the streets will have an impact on the film. Rosenberg responded “None whatsoever.” While this answer is rather definitive, we know that big franchises have a history of hiding huge secrets. But we probably shouldn’t get our hopes up.